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Forums \ Strategic forum \ [G] Defending Expos in PvZ
5 months ago

Sp1ralArch1tect
[G] Defending Expos in PvZ (526 reads, 13 replies)
Hey guys I recently read SilverLeaves post about his PvZ, and the main problem he had was defending his third expo against 12 ling attacks and a general lurker ling army. So I thought I would write up this little guide about defending an expo against Z in early, mid and late game situations. So without further introduction here it is:



Opening Defense
Here is my favorite way to defend against an early zergling attack or hydra break. This build is more suited to defending a zergling break with a follow up of +1 speed zeals to harass the mineral only Zerg inevitably grabs in PvZ. Notice hot the pylon and forge are snug against each other, this is vital as it creates lanes that you know the Zerglings will run through. Also the gateway is flush with the wall and one SC Square away from the pylon so my later goons and archons can get out.



Ling Runby Defense
Often a Zerg player is not depending on breaking your natural but running the lings by to harass your eco in your undefended main. To counter this I like to put a 3rd cannon right in my mineral line like this so that I can block with probes and make the runby useless. Though sometimes they will be going for the break and your gonna want to add that cannon near your natural to block with probes and zeos as necessary. Remember that building placement is vital in every game so you have to think, if you cant do it quickly send your 6th probe after your 8th is cued.



Cannon placement at your third
When the third expo pops I like to place my cannons like this to defend against probe harass more than killing the expo. Since it is your third you will want to put that gateway down and pump out a few templars and dts to help defend against lings and hydras. All the while keep your army within a short walking distance as you may need them to defend against any sort of all in 3rd expo break. the gateway serves a good purpose there as autoattacking units will hit it first rather than the nexus, buying you a small amount of time.



Defending your Mid-Game expo
Now to probably the most important defense time of the game, Mid-Late game transition can totally destroy you if you lose an expo. So this expo has to survive at all costs pretty much, or at least you have to believe it does. For base defense I think the best unit is the reaver, with its huge amounts of splash damage and general ability to rape the zergs easily how could it not be. One really important thing to remember is to shape your block so that the units will group up in there and take max splash damage. Add reavers and templars as needed, judge this by your opponents unit mix and amount of units. When he has alot of hydras your gonna want 1 reavera nd a couple temps to storm the hydra, but with lurkers 2 reavers for lurkers and 1 temp for storm should do just fine.



Late Game Drop Defensive
Another common zerg strategy is the demoralizing huge base drop, this is practically undefendable with defensive tactics. Reavers, Storm, Dts, Corsairs whatever you use its going to be nearly impossible to stop the attack and maintain an army. So what you want to do is minimize the damage and the size of his army while yours can arrive to help. This is best acheived through Building Placement and Storms. As you can see in the screenshot when I built those cannons I used them to fill in the holes in my base, this makes it much harder for Zerg to surround and much easier for you to pool his units and storm them. Make sure that your gates dont have many gaps in them usually as they most often times just provide for units to get stuck, though its advantageous when they arent yours.



Late Game ZOMG Im Rich Defense
When you are just stomping a Zerg and your mineral count soars too high to handle I do this. The main points of this defense are your gateway placement, on other maps you will have to provide someimtes 4-5 gates to get this block but it is worth it. Even with swarm a maxed Zerg army will have trouble getting through without some decent micro, while all you have to do is storm and make scarabs. Make sure that your gateways are placed so that lings can get by and get back to the cannons, this also creates lanes for them to run in and perfect storms can be easily placed with good gates there. This is mostly used when you fear that the zerg may tech break you with Swarm and 12 lings at each expo or some such late game tech strategy. So use this sparingly and make sure that when you do you dont let him through cause this just cost you alot of money.



Nobody Likes a Cannon Whore
Dont do this please, you can make so much better use of your minerals than building 15-20 cannons all around your expo so the zerg can swarm them and rape with 6 lings. Remember when you do this you tell the Zerg that you are gonna turtle and he had better tech up quick so he can just rape you, this is the last thing you want to do. Please just dont be a cannon whore unless it is absoloutely necessary try to throw down a robo or some gate with your cannons instead, and shield batterys complement reavers very well.

The End...


Thats it I am going to try and find a good replay of me doing this in action as well as some pros who have some really interesting base defense strategies so keep your eye on this thread for future updates. I hope this helps a few of you with your PvZ, a matchup I hated for years.
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5 months ago
#1

Silverleaves

   2
Thx for this guide using gateway to defend is very astucious.
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5 months ago
#2

EsX_Raptor

 (Replay management - SC)   5
1 swarm = gg
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5 months ago
#3

Silverleaves

   2
reaver and storm aren't affect by swarm at all
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5 months ago
#4

Sp1ralArch1tect

   8
Reaver still has splash damage under the swarm while the storms are able to take care of other units, there is no truly effective defense for alot of swarm but this will hold it off till your army arrives.
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5 months ago
#5

K)RooKie

   3
not so usefull but nice try
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5 months ago
#6

Sp1ralArch1tect

   8
2008-06-29 11:44:03, K)RooKie wrote:
not so usefull but nice try


Wht did you find unuseful about it?
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5 months ago
#7

K)RooKie

   3
Coz it is so basic...:)
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5 months ago
#8

Mrowa

   2
2008-06-29 11:44:03, K)RooKie wrote:
not so usefull but nice try


hehe herei is a little bit of truth :D

mostly in PVZ Protos to defence his expo make 1 gat more canons and ht or river ;]
so good work to do print screens etc but you know it's unnecessary
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5 months ago
#9

DanteStyle
#2 perhaps u should read before commentating as he said this is how u NOT defend ur expos because swarm will rape it
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5 months ago
#10

Lord_of_Chaos

   17
I think the idea is for it to be basic, to help beginners. Which I think it does quite well.

I'd like to have seen a part for how to place cannons vs mutalisk harassment though.

Some points:
In your "Opening defense", how will that work vs a hydra break? I assume you mean like a 2, 3 or 4 hatch hyda all in?

In your "Ling Runby Defense" you say to send your 6th probe while the 8th is cued. I assume you mean to make the first pylon at the nat? I think this is too early, as you will always have enough time to time everything well by sending a probe as usual at 8 (ie the 7th probe). Also, isn't it better to simply block the entrance with probes if you scout zerglings than wasting 150 minerals in your main? Just make one in case they do run by.. But making 1 cannon there is definetly easier and this is supposed to be basic :)

Cannon Placement at your Third, the pic doesn't work unfortunatly. I do like that you point out HTs though.

Otherwise it's good :)
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5 months ago
#11

Lord_of_Chaos

   17
oh yeah, forgot to post this link that is a must on this subject: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_i d=62652
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5 months ago
#12

349191

   4
just put like 2x dt or ht and a coupple of cannons at your far away expos, third expo in early game is quite easy to defend imo, but then again im only playing on d+/c- level.
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5 months ago
#13

Sp1ralArch1tect

   8
Yeah that thread kicks some serious ass LoC, in this guide I focused more on defending past your natural. I see alot of people having this problem (me included) that when you play Z you can break the contain but have trouble taking the expo while being aggressive. I though this guide would help alot of people with a basic style of defending a base that is pretty effective, though everyone of these defenses is breakable they do allow for sufficient time to defend or counter.
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